I'm just really getting into astronomy for the first time in my life. I'm utterly hooked now, but Im craving more detail.

I'm looking at this telescope:
http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobs...c/13/p/8943.uts

This scope will be a major improvement over what I have: larger aperature, parabolic vs spherical mirror, etc etc. Issue is that it's a Dobsonian mount, which I haven't gotten to test out yet. I'm only familiar with the EQ, which in my opinion, makes life easy and leaves room for future photographic opportunities.

Mainly however, I'm wondering if any of you who may have anything like this finds it awkward or imprecise to constantly nudge such monster up and over, down and over. I'm not heavily into photography at the moment, so it's not a deal-breaker at all.

Too bad just buying an equitorial mount that can support this thing would set me back about a grand...however, I'm not afraid to try something new as long as it's not too clunky to use. =/

I'd appreciate any advice. thx.

I have one very similar to this, same aperture Dob. http://www.cloudynights.com/documents/hardin8.pdf

How difficult it is to "track" by hand is easier than you might expect. This probably has something to do with the mass of the scope and the solidity of the Dob mount. lower end tripod mounts seem to be more flexible/wiggly by comparison. Because the eyepiece is mounted near the front of the scope, you are moving it from that point, and with the length of the tube the movements are fairly fine. Of course the higher you go in eyepiece power, the more you'll have to keep nudging the thing.

The hardest part about not having a motorized computer driven scope is, of course, locating a specific object, esp a very faint one that is not near some prominent star formation, quite challenging.

8 inch dobs are the best bang for the buck Tscope you can buy imo. Just print out a sky chart for your location and time of year. And your good to go. I also bring binoculars

Thanks a lot for your input folks! My equatorial mount isn't motorized, so I wasn't leery about the 'manual' part -- just the Dobsonian's ability to track objects fluidly. You both seem very happy with yours, so I'll trust your judgment.



Boy, you can really appreciate the size when there's a person next to it. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing that great red spot in detail

http://www.cloudynights.com/index.php


Heres a nice site with lots of info. I also sketch my observations from time to time.

Excellent resource -- bookmarked. I'll dive into it a little more tonight. One question though -- are those photos in the gallery sketches or photos? I flipped through the "imaging myths" article (will read more when I'm not running late for work), and it seems like they are enhanced photos. From my novice point of view, it just seems like you'd need to have stolen the Hubble (or bought something nearly as expensive) to get that kind of color & resolution.

I dont take pictures so I'm not real informed on that. But over the years I'v seen some really good pictures from amateur astronomers. You can do well if you exposure time is very long like 8 hours or something. But you can't do Hubble good pictures at home. Here's a link to Paul Rix's pictures right here at SimHQ. Maybe PM him for more info. But he's a pilot and very busy




http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3223627/1.html



Here some real sketches..


http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/s...vc=#Post4744692

Also have a look at nightsky network ( http://www.nightskiesnetwork.com/ ) they do live broadcasts from amateur astonomers with webcam/cctv/astro cameras attached to thier telescopes.

The nice thing with an 8" dob is that, though heavy, the whole thing is liftable (at least by me, a 45 year old of average strength), and I can carry it from the garage into the back yard without too much of a problem. I think anything bigger that would become a problem.

8" dob should be extremely easy - larger ones are also pretty smooth, as the teflon surfaces work very well. Of course the higher the magnification, the more "driving" you will be doing. A decently constructed and balanced Dob should move with fingertip pressure. Good luck!

Let us know how you like it Phoenix.